Combined propelling-motor and door-operating mechanism for cars



G. W. MEYERS.

COMBINED PROPELLING MOTOR AND DOOR OPERATING MEcHAMsm F OR CAR-S;

APPLICATION FILED AUG.20| I919.

7] IUILLMIIHH G. W. MEYERS.

COMBINED PROPELLING MOTOR AND DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM FOR CARS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.20, 1919.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

GEORGE WASHINGTON MEYERS, 0F RAHWAY, JERSE PNEUMATIC COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORA COMBINED PROPELLING-MOTOR AND DOOR- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 20, 1919. Serial No. 318,?75.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. Marlins, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rahway, in the county of Union, State of New Jersey, have made a certain new and useful Invention in Combined Propelling -Motor and Door-Operating Mechanism for Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a combined propelling motor and door operating mechanism for cars.

The object of the invention is to provide a combined propelling motor and door operating mechanism for cars which is simple in construction and efiicient in operation.

A further object of the invention is to utihas the car propelling motor starter to operate the doors on the car;

A further object is to provide a simple and efficient friction drive mechanism and control devices therefor for actuating the doors.

Other and specific objects of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter.

The invention consists substantially in the construction, combination, location, and relative arrangement of parts, all as will be more fully hereinafter set forth, as shown in the accompanying drawings, and finally pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings,-

Figure 1 is a view in top plan, parts being broken out, showing a combined car propolling and door operating mechanism embodying the principles of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the construction shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a broken view in longitudinal section of a portion of the clutch lever operat- 1g connections.

Fig. l is a similar view showing one of the switch devices for controlling the circuit of the car motor starting and door operating motor.

5 is a broken detail view in vertical section of the control lever structure for controlling the clutch, motor circuit switches and the door operating mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a detail view in section on the line 6, 6, Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 7 is a broken view in section on the line 7, 7, Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

-Fig. '8 is a detail view in section on the line 8, 8, Fig. 7, looking in the arrows.

Y, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL 'IION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

OPERATING MECHANISM FOR CARS.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

the direction of The same part is designated by the same reference numeral wherever it occurs throughout the several views.

It has long been the practice in the operation of street cars, to

employ an electric motor on the car to propel the car, and a separate motor or motors to doors.

operate the car The cost of equipping cars with propelling electric motors and with door operating motors, and the cost of supplying opera-ting curren generating and t to the motors,

as well as the cost of maintenance and depreciation, has rendered the present general practice exceedingly burdensome and has strained to the limlt the fin an ial ability of street gar systems to maintain their property. it is among the special purposes of the present invention versally employed in stree with internal combustion dispensing with the vast cos maintenance and necessary required in connection with and to combine with such to replace the electric propelling motors heretofore prac tically unit car operation motors, thereby t of installation,

accessory devices electric motors,

internal combustion propelling motors or engines and their usual accessory and control and efficient door actuating devices, a simple and control mechanism employing the starting motor of the propelling engine for driving the door operating devices.

Internal combustion hydrocarbon fuel oped to a high stage of perf tomobile and motor vehicle engines employing supply have been develection in tl e auart, and their efficiency as well as the economies effected in their construction and operation in comparison with electric motors have been demonstrated and tried out. The

cation of internal combustion propelling motors, however,

portant problem of correlati practical appliengines as car involves the 1mtherewith the usual safety door appliances and equipment required in the modern stree t car equipment.-

The present invention is specially directed to the problem of combining an internal combustion engine equipment as a ropelling motor for a car with the safety door and its operating mechanism employed on the car.

my invention wherein 10 d esignates an in ternal combustion engine which may be of any desired construction or type and equipped with the usual starting motor 11, starting motor shaft 12, geared to the main engine 10, as indicated at 13, and circulating pump. The starting'motor 11 is driven as a motor by current supplied from the usual storage battery 15 which battery is charged when said motor is driven as a generator from the main engine. These parts may all be of the usual or any desired standard of make, construction and arrangement except that the starter shaft is made in two sections 12 and 12, which are connected to or dis connected from each other by means of a clutch device 15, controlled by a lever 16.

Mounted upon the starter shaft 12 to rotate therewith is a friction wheel 17 with which cooperate friction wheels 18, 19, respectively, disposed on opposite sides thereof. The friction wheels 18, 19, are respectively mounted on stud shafts 20, 21, mounted in a casing 22, which is ournaled to rock upon a shaft 23, which carries a worm 24. The worm shaft 23, is driven in one direction or the other according to whether the friction wheel 19 and 18 is brought into frictional contact with the wheel 17 on the starter shaft. This drive of the worm shaft is accomplished through gears 25, 26, 27, 28, the latter being mounted on the worm shaft 23 and meshing directly with the gear 25 on the shaft 20 carrying the friction wheel 18, while the gear 26 011 the shaft 21 of friction wheel 19 meshes with an intermediate gear 27 which latter meshes with gear 28 on the worm shaft.

The casing 22 is provided with means, indicated at 29, Fig. 8, arranged to be engaged by the end of an arm 30, carried by a rock shaft 31, to which rocking movement I in one direction or the other is imparted,

as occasion may require, by means of an arm 32 carried thereby and arranged to be actuated by a control lever presently to be more fully described. 7

When one friction wheel 18 is brought into peripheral contact with the drive wheel 17 the worm sha t and worm is driven in one direction, and when wheel 19 is brought into contact with said wheel 17 the worm shaft and worm is driven in the opposite direction.

The worm 24 drives a worm gear 33 on a vertically disposed shaft 34, upon which is carried a table 34, to which are connected the reach rods 35, 36, by which when said table 34 is rotated in one direction or the other, the doors, indicated at 37, are opened or closed.

From this description it will be observed that I provide an exceedingly simple fric- .tion drive mechanism for operating the doors. which 111%"l12LI1lSH1 accomplishes the operation of the doors easily and smoothly,

and, in turn, is actuated by the starting motor 11 of the main engine. This friction drive mechanism is easily controlled by merely rocking the casing 22 upon the worm shaft 23 in one direction or the other so as to bring one or the other of the friction wheels 18, 19 into contact with the friction wheel 17 on the starter shaft according as it is desired to open or to close the doors.

I will now describe a construction and operation of control devices for the circuits of the starting motor, the clutch device which couples and uncouples the starter shaft to and from the main engine, and the rocking movements of the friction gear casing 22.

Reference numeral 38 designates a control lever which is provided with a spherical portion 39, housed within a seating 40 to permit said lever to rock in intersecting directions. A spring 41 serves to normally maintain the control lever in a neutral position and to yieldingly oppose its rocking movement in either dir ction. Suitably connected to the control lever, or to the head 39 thereof, is a depending port-ion 42, having a curved slot 43, in its lower edge, in which is received the free end of arm 32, whereby the control lever 38 is permitted to rock back and forth in one direction without effecting any movement of arm 32, but when rocked back and forth in an intersecting direction the arm 32 is rocked in corresponding direction thereby rocking the gear casing 22 to cause actuation of the doors to open or closed position as the case may be.

Also connected with the depending portion 42 of the control lever 38 is a bridging member 44 of a switch device which makes or breaks a circuit connecting the battery 15 with the starter motor 11 to operate said motor as a starter for the main engine. When the lever 38 is rocked in a direction to complete the starting motor circuit through the switch device 44, it is important that the starter shaft be coupled to the main engine. I therefore connect the lever 38, or the clepending portion'42 thereof, to the clutch operating lever 18. It is desirable to provide a slip joint in the connections between the levers 38 and 16 so as to insure a closing of the circuit of the starting motor 11 through switch device 44 before the clutch 15 is thrown into action. It is also desirable and advantageous to provide a yielding connection between the levers 38 and 16 so that the clutch 15 will be snapped quickly out of coupling relation when the control lever 38 is rocked in reverse direction. A simple structure of yielding slip joint is shown for accomplishing these purposes, wherein a cylindrical sleeve 45 is provided in which are carried plungers 46, 47, with a spring 48 interposed between them. A clearance is provided between each plunger and the adrocked inadvertently jacent end of the sleeve 45. The stem 49 of plunger 46 projects through one end of the sleeve and a link 50 connects the said stem to the depending portion 42 of the control lever 38. In like manner the stem 51 of the plunger 47 projects through the opposite end of the sleeve and is connected to the clutch operating lever 16. Also connected to or carried by the stem 51 is a head or portion 52, carrying contacts 53 which coiiperate with a stationary bridging contact member 54, constituting a switch device to control the circuit of the starting motor 11. The position of the contact member 54 with reference to the contacts 53 may be adjusted in any suitable manner, as indicated at 55 in Fig. 4. The arrangement of the parts is such that when control lever 38 is rocked in a direction to close the switch device 53, 54,

the clutch 15 is released, thereby permitting the starting motor to be utilized as a door operating motor. All that is required to be done after the clutch 15 is drawn out and the switch 53, 54, is closed, is to rock the gear casing 22 in one direction or the other as may be required, in order to open or close the doors.

By reason of the clearance left between the plungers 46, 47, and. the ends of the sleeve 45, and the spring 48 interposed between the plungers, in the slip joint device above described, I am enabled to secure the closing of the circuits of the motor in advance of the actuation of the clutch, and a quick snap out action in releasing the clutch.

In order to guide the control lever 38 in its rocking movements in intersecting directions, and to prevent the lever from being and untimely, I provide a fixed guide device 56, see Fig. 6, having'the intersecting slots 57, 58, therein, which guide and determine the direction in which the said lever may rock. This guide device is attached to the housing which carries the spring 40, and the depending portion 42 or its stem extends through the slot therein.

The operation is very simple. When the lever 38 is rocked in the direction indicated by arrow 59 in Fig. 2, the clutch 15 is thrown in and the switch 44 is closed. The motor 11 then performs its function as a starting motor for the main engine. When lever 38 is rocked in the direction of arrow 60, the clutch 15 is thrown out, the switch 53, 54, is closed and the motor then drives the friction wheel 17. Now if lever 38 while in this position is rocked laterally or in an intersecting direction one or the other of the friction wheels 18, 19, is thrown into contact with friction wheel 17 and the doors are thereby operated to their open or closed positions as the case may be. hen the lever 38 is in neutral position then the motor 11 may be driven as a dy namo from the main engine and employed to charge the battery 15 The control of the direction and speed of the main engine may be effected in the usual or any well known manner and forms no part of my present invention.

It will be understood that many changes and variations in the details of structure and arrangement may readily occur to persons skilled in the art and still fall within the spirit and scope of my invention. I do not desire therefore, to be limited or restricted in the broad scope of my invention to the exact details shown and described.

Having now set forth the objects and nature of my invention and having shown and described a structure embodying the principle thereof, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s:

1. In a car, the combination with an engine for propelling the car, of a starting motor, for starting said engine, a door for said car, and means actuated by said motor for opening and closing said door.

2. In a car, the combination with an en gine for propelling the car, of a starting motor, for starting said engine, a door for said car, means actuated by said motor for opening and closing said door, and means for controlling said motor.

3. In a car, the combination with an engine for propelling the car, of a starting motor, for starting said engine, a door for said car, means actuated by said motor for opening and closing said door, and selective means for controlling said motor to selectively start the engine, open or close the door.

4. In a car, the combination with an engine for propelling the car, of a starting motor, for starting said engine, a door for said car, means actuated by said motor for opening and closing said door, and means for rendering said door opening and closing means inoperative when said motor is being employed to start said engine.

5. In a car, the combination with an en gine of a door, a motor and means for selectively controlling said motor to start said engine, or actuate said door.

6. In a car, the combination with an engine for propelling the car, of a starting motor, for starting said engine, a door for said car, and means actuated by said motor for opening said door.

7. In a car, the combination with an engine for propelling the car, of a starting motor, for starting said engine, a door for said car, and means actuated by said motor for closing said door.

8. In a car, the combination with an en gine for propelling the car, of a starting motor, for starting said engine, a door for said car, and means actuated by said motor for selectively opening or closing said door.

9. In a car, the combination with an engine, and a motor for starting the engine, of a door, a circuit for controlling said motor, a lever for controlling said circuit, and means actuated thereby for selectively causing said motor to start said engine or actuate said door.

10. In a car, the combination with an engine, and a motor for starting the engine, of a coor, a circuit for controlling said motor, a lever for controlling said circuit, and means actuated thereby causing said motor to open said door.

I 11. In a car, the combination with an engine, and a motor for starting the engine, of a door, a circuit for controlling said motor, a lever for controlling said circuit, and means actuated thereby causing said motor to close said door.

12. In a car, the combination with an engine and a motor for starting said engine, of a door, a circuit for controlling said motor, a lever for controlling said circuit, means whereby when said. lever is rocked in one direction said circuit is closed to actuate said motor to start said engine, and means whereby when said lever is rocked in another direction said circuit is closed to cause said motor to operate for door actuation purposes. r

13. In a car, the combination with an engine and a motor for starting said engine, of a door, a circuit for controlling said motor, a lever for controlling said circuit, means whereby when said lever is rocked in one direction said circuit is closed to actuate said motor to start said engine, means whereby when said lever is rocked in another direction said circuit is closed to cause said motor to operate for door actuation purposes, and means controlled by the movement of said lever for selectivelyopening or ciosing said door.

1%. In a car, the combination with an engine and a motor for starting said engine, of a door, a circuit for controlling said motor, a lever for controlling said circuit, means whereby when said lever is rocked in one direction said circuit is closed to actuate said motor to start said engine, means whereby when said lever is rocked in another direction said circuit is closed to cause said motor to operate for door actuation purposes, and means controlled by the further movement of said lever for opening said door.

15. In a car, the combination with an engine and a motor for starting said engine, of a door, a circuit for controlling said mo tor, a lever for controlling said circuit, means whereby when said lever is rocked in one direction said circuit is closed to actuate said motor to start said engine, means idle operation relative to said engine, means whereby when said lever is rocked whereby when said lever is rocked in another direction said circuit is closed to cause said motor to operate for door actuation purposes, and means controlled by the further movement of said lever for closingsaid door. V Y

16. In a car, the combination with an engine and a motor for starting said engine, of a door, a circuit for controlling said m'o tor, a movable lever for'controlling said circuit, means for allowing a backward, forward and sidewise rocking movement for said lever, means whereby whensaid lever is rocl red forwardly said motor circuit is closed and said motor a'ctuates to start said engine, and means whereby when said lever is rocked rearwardly said motor circuit is closed to actuate said motor for and sicewise thereafter, said door is actuated.

17. In a car, the combination with an engine and a motor for starting said engine,

of a door, a circuit for controlling said motor, a movable lever for controlling said lcircuit, means for allowing a backward, forward and sidewise rocking movement for said lever, means whereby when said lever is rocked forwardly said motor circuit is closed and said motor actuates to start said engine, and means whereby when said lever is rocked rearwardly said motor circuit is closed to actuate said motor for idle operation relative to said engine, and means whereby when said lever is rocked sidewise in one direction thereafter, said door is opened.

18. In a car, the combination with an engine and a motor for starting said engine, of a door, a circuit for controili'ng said motor, a movable lever for controlling said circuit, means for allowing a backward, forward and sidewise rocking movement for said lever, means whereby when said lever is rocked forwardly saidmotor circuit is closed and said motor actuates to start said engine, and means whereby when said lever is rocked rearwardly said motor circuit is closed to actuate said motor for idle open-- tion relative to said engine, and means whereby when said lever is rocked sidewise in one direction thereafter, said door is opened and in the opposite direction said door is closed.

19. In a car, the combination with an engine, a motor, clutch connections between said motor and engine, a circuit for said motor, a door, connections between said motor anc door, and means for controlling said circuit and selectively controlling said door connections on said clutch.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand on this 18th day of August, A. D. 1919.

GEO. NASIrIIITGION MEYERS. 

